- Begins on the night of Sticker Fest
- Mushroom Kingdom holds annual Sticker Fests so that its residents can see the Sticker Comet arriving
- A wish made on the comet is said to likely come true
- Bowser and his crew show up and disturb the festivities
- Bowser wants the comet’s powers for himself
- Browser lunges toward the comet, but once he does so, it shatters and its pieces fly across the kingdom
- Crown sticker lands on Bowser’s head
- Bowser becomes sparkly and more powerful than ever before
- He kidnaps Princess Peach and runs off
- Mario goes after Peach right away
- He comes across a flying crown named Kersti
- Kersti is the caretaker of the Royal Stickers
- Royal Stickers are wish-granting elements of the comet
- One of them wounded up on Bowser
- Kersti accompanies Mario on his quest and helps him out in using stickers

Stickers

- Stickers are the main gameplay element in Sticker Star
- Can find stickers all over
- Take a sticker by walking up to it and pressing “A”
- Need stickers to use techniques and attacks in combat
- Stickers can be purchased at one of the game’s shops for coins
- Album holds a limited number of sticker
- More pages will be added to your album as you progress

Battles

- Turn-based battles
- Choose a sticker from your album
- Each sticker features a corresponding move that you’ll carry out such as a jump or hammer attack
- Tap the “A” button right before an attack to cause extra damage
- When an enemy is attacking, hit “A” right before the attack to lessen the damage
- A sticker’s efficacy is based on its condition
- A mint-condition sticker is more powerful that a worn-out one
- Special stickers have boosted stats
- Can use the Battle Spinner before a fight
- Spinner is a machine-style mini-game
- Uses some of your coins
- Match two or more symbols to earn bonus items and the opportunity to take more stickers into the fray

Level structure

- Paper version of the Mushroom Kingdom appears as an overworld map
- Decalburg is the starting hub
- Buy and sell stickers at Decalburg
- Talk to residents as well
- Head off to new worlds from Decalburg
- Worlds have multiple levels like a Mario platformer
- Worlds have enemies, stickers, and puzzles

How levels play out

- World 1-3 – Bowser-shaped watersprout is in your way; need to turn it off to progress (level spoiler)
- Need to obtain the comet piece at the end of each level
- You’ll sometimes encounter 3D objects such as scissors, a faucet, and a trumpet
- These are categorized as “Things” in the game
- Use these items to solve puzzles
- Some portions of the world will be missing
- Bowser Jr. will tear up a bridge away from the background and crumple it
- Returning it to its rightful place requires “Paperization”
- Press “Y” to make your immediate surroundings become 2D and fall down like a piece of paper lying on a table
- Mario and Kersti hover above the page
- Mario can place something (like the bridge) on the background
- Added object becomes a part of the scene once you return the setting to normal

General

- World looks like its composed of paper and cardboard
- Arts-and-craft project feel is emphasized
- Bridge is folded up like an accordion and sealed with a sticker
- Peeling the sticker away causes the paper to realistically bounce upward before settling down
- Paper characters can be flown around, folded, and crumpled
- All of these can be used against you during battle
- Enemies may roll themselves up into a cone to prevent you from jumping over them
- Other enemies fold themselves like a card to double the enemies
- First world boss: Goomba that combines with a troupe of his minions to form a giant Goomba with Megasparkle strength
- Koopa Troopas fold up into their shells like origami
- Has humor like previous Paper Marios
- Paper nature of the characters/environments is used for gags
- Nintendo Power says the dialogue is consistently clever

Sticker examples

- Jump: stomp on a single foe; can use it to bounce multiple times; can’t be used on spiked enemies
- Hammer: Common attack; can’t be used on flying creatures; produces a shockwave that hurts an enemy group
- Mushroom: restores hearts
- Fire Flower: throw fireballs; can hit multiple targets
- Shell: hit enemies with the shell; hits anything in its path; won’t hit flying enemies
- POW Block: useful for a lot of damage; smash it to damage all ground-based enemies; can crumple (stun) them
- Baahammer: decorated with a sheep image; makes your enemies fall asleep; enemies will be open to further attacks, but they’ll regain some health while sleeping
- Eekhammer: like a normal hammer, but can be swung multiple times

- Not all sticker attacks work on all enemies
- Can’t hit flying enemies with most Hammers
- Standard Jump attack won’t work on spiked baddies
- Need to learn each enemy’s weakness
- You’ll eventually unlock the Sticker Museum
- Store and view your stickers at the museum
- Museum is huge
- Toad hints that you’ll get a prize for completing the collection at the museum
- Things include electric fans, baseball bats, lucky cats, soda
- If you run across some weird, non-flat object, you can take it back to the main town to transform into a sticker
- Use these stickers to defeat enemies in some extravagant way
- Can also help you find secrets
- Since you can “paperize” at any moment, you can get a different perspective of the world and spot certain areas with big, red squares or glowing purple spots that that nudge you to use a sticker
- Find the right sticker for the right spot and something cool will happen, whether it helps you push forward in the story, unlocks a secret area or yields you some kind of prize
- These areas are all over, sometimes in surprising places